Kerry: Russia behaving like it's the 19th century

Secretary of State John Kerry said Russia is behaving “in a 19th century fashion” by invading Ukrainian territory in what he called “an incredible act of aggression” by President Vladimir Putin.

“It’s an incredible act of aggression, it is really a stunning willful choice by president Putin to invade another country,” Kerry said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

While stressing that the situation is not another “Cold War,” Kerry told host Bob Schieffer that Putin is trapped in a centuries-old mindset.

“You just don’t in the 21st century behave in 19th century fashion by invading another country on completely trumped up pre-text,” Kerry said. “It is serious in terms of sort of the modern manner with which nations are going to resolve problems. There are all kinds of other options still available to Russia. There still are. President Obama wants to emphasize to the Russians that there are a right set of choices that can still be made to address any concerns they have about Crimea, about their citizens, but you don’t choose to invade a country in order to do that.”

Kerry called the 90-minute phone call Obama held with Putin Saturday “a very important conversation” and he hopes Russia “will turn this around.”

“This does not have to be a zero-sum game,” Kerry said. “It is not Russia versus the United States, Russia v. Europe, this is about the people of Ukraine, the people of Ukraine are who initiated what happened there.”